flashback
by La Salle De Bain
Summary: oneshot. Jade tells Guy a little about himself. jadedist.


**flashback // a tales of the abyss one-shot**  
_slight spoilers, dude. :)_

"Hard, hard, hard, hard—"

"Don't complete that sentence. _Ever."_

"Oh, cheer up, Guy…"

Jade had a way with people. Maybe it was his charm…Luke and the others liked to joke that he "persuaded" Peony into giving him such a high rank in Malkuth's military. Of course, they all knew he had worked for it. No strings were pulled with this man—he earned his genius, and he earned his power.

People just liked messing with him a little.

"_Mannn_, your sister sure is attractive," Guy whistled. "Very elegant. And beautiful. Put in a good word for me?"

Guy and Jade had grown close on their adventures. They never really connected, but maybe it was the fact they were the oldest in the group. They could drink and talk together, like men. The other males in the group (Mieu and Luke) weren't much of a party. Luke was too easy to tease…

"How about I do the exact opposite," Jade started, "and tell her how much of a heathen you are? I wouldn't be lying." He smiled that cold smile that shut people up instantly.

Guy laughed. He took a sip of his beer. Its bitterness was something he would never get used to, but he would like to considered himself "grown up." Well, opposed to everyone else he knew, anyway. They got caught up in trivial things that made him look down on the human race a little. It was something personal Guy really had to work on, and he had never mentioned it to any of his friends…he wouldn't want them to think he was judging him, even though he really was.

_I'm a cynical human being, aren't I?_

"Dist has been giving us quite a problem lately, hasn't he?" Jade muttered. "It's getting fairly old—he should learn to use his words, as opposed to brute force."

"What's with his obsession with you, anyway? Every second, it's _'JadeJadeJade'_ from him. Could it be that he's enamored of you? Could you have seduced him in some way…?" He grinned sheepishly.

Guy was joking, of course, but Jade didn't seem to catch on.

"If you'd consider _that_ seduction…"

"Umm…what?"

Jade sighed. Guy felt a story coming on.

"I might as well tell you, so everything will be cleared up." Jade rubbed his temple. "And, let me warn you—it's complicated."

Guy took a deep breath, and Jade began.

"We worked together as scientists. Do you remember that? Dist—Saphir back then—Nephry, Peony, and myself. Dist always seem to be a little…amorous of me. He never expressed an interest in the female sex. People would always poke fun at him, but I was never too surprised. His mother was always abusive, so I could understand where the distaste for women would come from.

"Dist would always shower me with gifts. Usually chocolate, he made. Maybe he became interested in me because I was one of the few who didn't place judgment on him. Bitter as I am, individuality and expression is something I can respect, especially when it's doing no harm to anyone else. But this was before he began…'falling for me,' as people say. Such a crude expression, but I don't know any other way to explain.

"We were working late in the lab one night, and Dist was sitting down. I knew fairly well of his affections for me, so I watched how I acted around him. I reached over him to get a test tube or something, and he seemed to think I was coming onto him. He ran a hand across my chest, and, like any man would do, I got a little…excited."

Guy gulped. He sort of wanted Jade to stop speaking, but the story was fairly interesting. He'd like to have something about Jade that he only knew…in their group, secrets were always out in the open, like Luke being a replica, Guy's past, and Natalia not really being a princess. Secrecy was something Guy really wanted, for once in his life. So he nodded, letting Jade press on.

"It's something I regret _terribly_," Jade said. He said it in his usual smart-alecky tone. "But I kissed him, and we ending up sleeping together. It was…" He couldn't find a word to say, so he let the last 'was' float around in the almost empty bar.

Guy got a little uncomfortable. The thought of Jade tonguing and entering Dist, Dist writhing under him and panting and moaning wasn't something he'dlike to think about. But thinking about _not_ thinking about it made him think about it, and he hated himself for that. He choked back a gag. Dist never seemed like a…clean person, like someone who couldn't take care of himself. Being showered with empty adoration from the person he loved probably made his world a little brighter. And now he and Jade were mortal enemies?

"Tough break, man…" Guy said out loud.

"Oh?" Jade grinned. "Feeling a little sympathetic for the poor boy?"

"A little bit. Why would you do that to him? Give him false hope?"

"Not sure myself; I suppose it was one of those 'heat of the moment' things. In the end, I was just a boy who liked to mess with people. Can't say that's a quality I've outgrown. Cliché, isn't it? I'd like to think he's let go of me, and thinks that that night was something in his imagination. But I'd just be lying to myself, really. If he thought it was just something he imagined, then he wouldn't have kept that chair…"

Guy thought for a second. "The one where you…"

"—fucked him?"

"Yeah," Guy cringed. "But what would he do with it…?"

Jade laughed. "You know the obscenely red one he's always flying around on?"

"Oh." Guy finally comprehended Jade's words. _"Damn."_

Jade laughed again. "Disgusting, isn't it?"

"Yes. And a little sick."

"Oh, well! Can't say I didn't enjoy myself, though. He's good for a few things…" Jade smiled, looking at Guy from the corner of his eye. "I haven't had a night like that in quite some time…"

Guy's eyes widened, and the atmosphere tensed. He looked at the bartender.

"Another beer, please?"

The End.


End file.
